Question: what does it take to make (and keep) a community space? Should we start with the community or the space? The photo above was taken at Ursa one morning this summer and this week’s blog title borrows from the Ursa website, so let’s start with the space.
There are news and media stories about Ursa, if you’d like to learn more, but for the moment, some essentials: Martha Wainwright (et al) opened Ursa’s doors in 2019 and held outdoor concerts throughout the pandemic. In an interview, Wainwright describes her conception of Ursa as “a little music venue/space where I’d be wearing an apron and cooking and then I’d sing songs.” Indeed, at this year’s Ursa micro fundraiser weekend, during brunch, Martha (with apron) set out some freshly made cornbread (delicious) and within a few hours, she was on stage (no apron, with guitar) singing in a performance that almost moved me to tears (and looking around the room, I wasn’t the only one).
Looking around the room … yes, the “community” in the community space. I’ve been to three kinds of events at Ursa. First, the aforementioned “Ursa micro” (to explore live music mini-concerts and to support the fundraiser). Second, for Melodiya: a night of jazz records for dancers (to hear those with a love for vinyl share their gems, some new, some old, always an interesting selection). Third, for a cultural industry event, in my case, the Maisonneuve magazine launch (for my love of indie publishing, what can I tell you?).
These events at Ursa, as you can imagine, were quite different from each other. Each time, though, there was a sense of community. People arrived solo, in groups of two or three, to join others gathered in the space, to listen to music (live or on vinyl) together and to listen to each other (an aside: striking up a conversation at Ursa is almost effortless, somehow).
To the question, what does it take to make (and keep) a community space … like Ursa? At a minimum, it takes dedication by those who take care of the space (thank you, Martha et al). It also takes people with a disposition to share a little time, a little space, a little of who they are (thank you, Ursa-goers, you know who you are).
So … whether you live in Montréal or are visiting, drop into Ursa … for the live music, for the vinyl and dancing, for other cultural events … or just to spend some time in the space that is uniquely Ursa.
And welcome to the community.
a few words ... from Montréal 